More than 200 dogs showed up to wish a happy 100th birthday to a San Jose man at a tail-wagging neighborhood gathering that turned into a touching show of community support.
“It gives me chills just thinking about it,” Alison Moore, 60, of San Jose, California, told Fox News Digital about the birthday party on June 17 that she organized for her father, Robert Moore.
“To think that about 160 dogs I’d never met before, and then their owners — sometimes it was a couple or sometimes it was a family of five — is just wild to me. It was so heartwarming that these strangers would take part of their day to come to my house to bring their dog to greet my dad.”
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“I’ve never seen so many wagging tails.”
Alison Moore said she thought people would just walk by her house and wave, but it turned out to be much more.
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“Most of his friends are gone and my mom is gone,” Moore said. “A big party didn’t make sense — and since he’s been in assisted living the last number of years, the highlight is always when we would bring our dog to visit. And when we lost our dog in 2020, I would borrow my friends’ dogs. He just adores dogs.”
Moore then decided a dog parade would be right up her dad’s alley.
“There are lots of dogs in this community,” Moore said. “When you go down the little main drag of Willow Glen, Lincoln Avenue, you always see people with their dogs.”
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Moore said she contacted the people on her street and her church and also invited her friends with dogs.
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Moore and her husband Tom also hosted family members who flew in from all over the country, including their daughter Emma Moore from New York City.
Briggs the Samoyed “drives by” in his dad’s 1955 Cadillac to visit Robert Moore for his 100th birthday celebration in San Jose, California. (Alison Moore )
“When I saw the swarm of people coming from every direction at 11:05, I got tears in my eyes,” Emma Moore, 25, told Fox News Digital.
After the handshake, a boy introduces Robert Moore to his pup Leila. (Alison Moore )
Moore said she’s always noticed the special connection her dad has with dogs — and vice versa.
“They lean their head on him,” Moore said. “We have a new puppy and she’ll just put her paws up on his lap and lean her head on him.”
“He is still so amazed when he sees the video of how many people showed up for him.”
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Aside from watching her father relish the moment with his new furry friends, Alison Moore said the parade was a reminder of the good in the world.